NSSF: Olbermann’s Major League Gun-Rights Foul
This morning, the National Shooting Sports Foundation‘s Larry Keane has some color commentary to go alongside Keith Olbermann’s recent gun-rights gaffe. What has everyone’s least favorite hoplophobe been up to, and why should he have stuck to sportscasting? Keane’s got the details (and some pretty good laughs)!
________________________________________________________________________________________
Ride the pine. Relegated to the minors. Missed the cut. All of the above. Former sportscaster turned failed progressive political mouthpiece Keith Olbermann took a swing at what the Second Amendment says and means and whiffed so badly he created a wind advisory.
Before last week’s Major League Baseball All-Star game, police arrested four individuals who brought firearms into a Denver hotel nearby, suspecting the possibility of a tragedy during the game. Olbermann, no stranger to moronic Twitter takes, pounced and posted a video to his Twitter account saying with no evidence an All-Star game tragedy was averted. He attempted to mock gun owners and their supporters by posing the question, “Consider again the holy Second Amendment to the Constitution and ask yourself this question. Why doesn’t the 2nd Amendment have the word ‘own’ in it? Why does it not say the right to own guns or a synonym for own?”
The FBI subsequently said there was no All-Star game plot. Olbermann should stick to sports, but that roster’s already full.
Step Into the Swing
It could be said for all the flaws contained in Olbermann’s rant, he’s not wrong. The word “own” doesn’t appear in the Second Amendment. The words “keep and bear arms” are there, however, enshrining the unalienable right of Americans to possess firearms – no ifs, ands or buts about it. Olbermann doesn’t have to look far to find the U.S. Supreme Court recognizing and upholding that right.
2008’s landmark Supreme Court ruling in District of Columbia v. Heller, authored by the late Justice Antonin Scalia, removes any doubt. The decision explains the Second Amendment enshrines a pre-existing individual right to keep and bear arms. This right is pre-existing, and yes, in order to keep something, it must be owned.
Bearing Arms’ Cam Edwards caught sight of Olbermann’s tweet and had a field day. “The FBI said that there is no evidence of a mass shooting plot connected to these arrests, and Scalia addressed the inane argument about ‘keep’ vs. ‘own’ in the Heller decision. Starts about halfway down on page 7. Go try to save a dog instead of peddling this nonsense.”
Double Play
Edwards wasn’t the only one calling foul on Olbermann. The Reload’s Stephen Gutowski went to bat against Olbermann’s logic. “The right of the people to keep and bear arms” doesn’t refer to people owning guns. Instead, it refers to regulation of state militias? This is the argument you bellowed out with such confidence and condescension?”
Bearing Arms’ Tom Knighton did so too, observing, “This is the dumbest argument I’ve heard since people tried to say the Second Amendment only applied to muskets.”
Chris Loesch, Dana Loesch’s husband and a Second Amendment advocate, chimed in. “This is one of the most idiotic things I have ever listened to. I mean it’s utterly moronic.” There were plenty of additional responses stuffing Olbermann in his locker.
Call Up Relief
Olbermann might fit, but recent polling shows Olbermann is out in left field. Since Olbmann’s a statistics guy, here are some interesting numbers. Gallup shows support among Americans for more gun control has dropped by at least 10 points to the lowest levels in years. That includes more than five percentage points lower among self-described Democrats. Washington Post/ABC News polling shows similar trends.
These surveys align with what’s going on now. Americans in historic numbers have purchased (that’s “own” for Olbermann if he’s reading this) firearms in record numbers over the past 18 months, and are continuing.
Talking heads like Olbermann can keep barking from the cheap seats about firearms and their flawed and utterly discredited understanding of the Second Amendment. If Olbermann were to ever take a minute to stop adoring himself on Twitter, he’d see that the game changed and the bases aren’t the only thing that’s loaded.
Americans won’t stand for it and may send them back to the minors. Maybe Olbermann should be sacked for this egregious error. Wait, I’m wildly mixing my sports metaphors. How about Twitter just censor him for spreading misinformation?
Check the movie “Red Dawn” for pluses and minuses. More potential armed resistance now than at that time frame. And growing, in spite of dem. resistance.
someone buy olbermann a box of tampons .i’m sure he will be publicly identifying as a vagina soon .
The media should be ashamed of itself for its great disrespect of the second amendment. You get to keep the 1st and the rest of the constitution because the founding fathers gave you the ability to defend. Yourself, your community and your country. The media has also apparently forgotten how bad reporting can influence and poorly affect a investigation or perhaps ruin it ! Eric Rudolph was the actual Olympic Park bomber. A bad reporter and her news paper for ever tuned for Richard Jewel into the accused for years . They apparently don’t teach this in journalism classes .
Bad reporting also has a negative impact on your ratings. Which may have a undesired effect on future income.
Keep and bear connotes ownership, bright boy, and it also covers ammunition because you’re not bearing if the arm is unloaded. The founders assumed people of the day understood the language and were not as illiterate as you and others seem to be. I’ll also bet you think “well regulated” means well-controlled rather than the correct definition of the time, well trained, equipped, and lead.
“Keep” means you can own one, “bear” means you can lug the thing around with you.. There seem to be varying meanings for the word “infringed” LOL
I have flushed way smarter turds than Olbermann.
“Keep” is a synonym for “own.” At least it is un the two Thesauruses I have on my bookshelves. So Olberdorf’s ” enlightened moment” was just stupidity. His parents should demand a refund from Cornell.
Olberdick sucked as a Sportscaster too.
his parents should demand retroactive birth-control, I’m sure that is an abortion with bipartisan support
Well, even a blind hog like Olberman stumbles across an acorn once in a while. 😉
I don’t think of myself as the ‘owner’ of my firearms, but rather as their steward and caretaker. Some of my guns come to me from my father and father-in-law; the oldest of these is a Mossberg .22 rifle manufactured in 1928. It still functions flawlessly. My grandchildren will learn to shoot on that little rifle. When I shuffle off this mortal coil my guns will pass on to my children and, God willing, eventually to my grandchildren and greatgrandchildren. My father’s guns still remember his hand; when I shoot them it’s like holding hands with my Dad. That’s a precious gift, and not one to be discounted. We are all here for only a short while; properly cared for, our guns will long outlast us and become precious family heirlooms. Sadly, that’s something benighted idiots like Keith Olberman will never understand.
except the oak tree fell on olbermann’s head while he was hog-rooting for acorns ,no one can be that congenitally stupid
Oberdork is a buffoon of immense dimensions. Why anyone even bothers with what this failed human being thinks or says is beyond me. Just return him to the ash heap of history & forget about him!
Pretty sad when fools like him automatically get little chubbys whenever they see a chance to shift the blame for gun violence to someone other than themselves!!
OLBERMAN WAS, IS, AND ALWAYS WILL BE A COMPLETE FOOL. THE LOONS ON THE LEFT NEED IDIOTS LIKE HIM TO HELP JUSTIFY THEIR OWN IGNORANCE. HE AND DUMFUK BIDEN WOULD MAKE A GREAT TEAM IN SHOW BIZ.. THEY COULD BE BILLED AS “DUMFUK AND PAL”
Who was it that said, “It’s better to be quiet and let people think you’re slow than to open your mouth and remove all doubt?” He knew Olberman?
I believe it was Abraham Lincoln who said ” It is better to be thought a fool , than to speak out and remove all doubt. “
Many years ago at a NATO meeting, an American general asked a Japanese officer why Japan didn’t land troops on America’s western shore after the Pearl Harbor attack.. He replied that Japan had their people(spies) in America and their intel told them that almost every American house had a firearm and a land attack with troops would have been a disastrous loss. The 2nd amendment kept Japanese troops off of American soil.
“There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass” was the reply.
I tried to print my comment and a banner blocked part of it when I hit the first print. What gives?
HEY, JACKLEG, what do KEEP and BEAR mean? I don’t know what kind of language I can use on this site so I will just ask how far down are you on the wrong side of the bell curve that has 100 at top dead center?
I don’t remember, did you attend journalism school?
It doesn’t say own, in case you’re really interested because the Declaration of Independence considers the right of self-defense to be unalienable which assumes one possesses arms, the Second just codifies that the government has no power to take them away.
Are you sure you went to journalism school, emphasis on school?
The only thing Oberman took up in school was Space
I was in the Denver area a few weeks ago; carried my pistol the whole time, in and out of my hotel, at a wedding, sightseeing and hiking. All of that was completely legal. And my wife, family, and all innocent people around me were safer for it. You’re welcome.
By the way, Olbermann, I’ve observed that going to and from sporting and other high attendance events is becoming increasingly dangerous, due to targeting by criminals. Being able to legally defend themselves is essential for event-goers.
Olbermann is probably against catchers’ masks, batting helmets and other safety equipment, since he’s apparently against the safety equipment called GUNS.
germany marched across europe because few citizens owned guns in the bigger cities to back up their military. they just lined the streets with tears in theirs eyes as the nazi army rolled through their cities and enslaved them. let someone try that in america today.
michael – won’t disagree overall, but look at the apathy (lack of actions) going on in far too many of our big cities. Crime and destruction is rampant in them. Of course most of the places are run(?) by democRATs, and generally have very restrictive “gun control” laws, or perhaps that is just a coincidence.
Tell that to the Iraqi’s, Afghani’s when the USA went in to their countries.
They had access to full auto weapons and it didn’t deter us.
They didn’t deter us, but we certainly paid a price for it. I personally have less friends now , then I did prior to the global war on terror! I can still find these friends, they are buried in Arlington, Fort Indiantown Gap and several other military cemeteries.
If you remember correctly, the US has not fought a war on our soil in a bazillion years. What is the reason you ask? The invading army would not only have to fight the standing army, but general population because the general population is almost as well equipped. This fact alone is a chilling deterrent for any enemy head of state thinking about a protracted land battle. In short? They would have their asses handed to them!
Olberman is still olberman. Same insipid dork he was since being canned by ESPN. why isn’t he trying to sell insurance in Topeka or somewhere. He’s, as always, irrelevant.
I see no need to comment on Olbermanns (BS).As for our great 2nd ammendment,…. I’m sick & tired of the haters trying to read between the lines(there are’nt any)Our Forefathers that wrote the constitution spent days intentionally wording it simply and to the point so as folks like Olbermann could not impede its meaning.This was done based on their experiences from the oppresions of the goverments they came to this country to excape..We have slowly allowed the creepers like Olbermann & many others to take small bites out of our rights.No more!!! People…. take an individual stand & collectively we will keep our rights before we end up back to where things were before our Forefathers took a stand.
Sincerely/Respectfully, T. Efurd
Mr Lieberman, try and Go Back and REREAD THE FEDERALIST PAPERS! Ho, I’m bad. To do that you would first be Able to read and Understand. You FAIL!
Keith Olberman is one of the dumbest s.o.b.’s in the media. Maybe even dumber than Brian Stelter or Don Lemon.. Failed at ESPN and everywhere else since. It’s time for him to move on and stop annoying normal people.
Agreed. This is NOT his first foolish remark, after all at that time the word ‘keep’ was the same as own, and still is in many ways.
He is the epitome of the old adage, “It is better to have others think you the fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt”.
Olberman is indeed, a fool.
You are incorrect in assuming that anyone could be dumber that Lemon.